Breaded Chicken Thighs

I am by far not a rich woman.  My best recipes usually come from creative thinking on a tight budget.  When I can't afford pork chops or chicken breasts, I turn to the wonderful, flavorful chicken thigh.  

I use chicken thighs due to not only their frugality, but wealth of flavor.  Dark meat absorbs vast amounts flavor quickly when you are on a time crunch, and give any dish that slow-cooked feel.  

Tonight I used the tried and true breading-searing-roasting method, and paired my thighs with Tomato Basil Parsnips.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

2eggs

splash milk

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup italian panko breadcrumbs (recommended: Ian's)

3 tbsp olive oil

1tbsp butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly whisk milk and eggs together in a bowl and set on counter next to a separate bowl containing the breadcrumbs. Between 2 sheets of plastic wrap pound the hell out of the chicken thighs. Season thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. Dip each thigh into the eggs and then into the breadcrumbs. Melt the butter into the oil in a saute pan or skillet. Sear the thighs in the saute pan or skillet over medium high heat on each side for 2-3 minutes. Place seared thighs in a baking dish and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until thighs are cooked through.

Southwest Quiche Lorraine

I love bacon.  I love quiche.  I make one quiche a week so that I can quickly heat up a slice and eat it on my way to work.  Most of the quiches I make consist of whatever veggies I have in the fridge left over from other recipes.  I usually cook with turkey bacon and egg whites to cut calories, but Mitch brought home some thick cut pork bacon, so I figured, what the hell, may as well use the whole egg!  

You can simply grate the swiss and fan it out on the bottom to make a traditional quiche, but I like to cube it up so that there are tasty bits of gooey cheese running throughout my quiche.  I use a store bought pie shell mostly in the interest of saving time.  If you live near a natural food store you can find a wide array of pie shells to choose from.  I've used wheat, spelt, and gluten-free, but, well, this one is a traditional full-fat shell because we are cooking with bacon... mmmm bacon.

Ingredients:

1 store bought pie shell

1 tsp safflower oil

1 tbsp olive oil

½ cup onion chopped

½ jalepeno pepper minced

½ serrano pepper minced

½ cup green pepper chopped

1/3 cup red pepper chopped

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp salt + 1 pinch

pepper to taste

6 eggs

¼ cp milk

dash of hot sauce

1 cup diced swiss cheese (real small cubes)

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2-1 cup crisp crumbled bacon (cooled)

Directions:

Preheat stove to 350 and blind bake pie shell for 15 minutes. (I weigh it down with a glass bowl that's lightly greased with safflower oil on the bottom.) Remove pie shell from oven and let cool. Render bacon and then set aside on a plate with paper towels to cool. Saute onion and peppers in olive oil with a pinch of salt over medium high heat for 15 minutes or until tender. Add all spices to the pan and saute for another couple minutes. Set vegetable aside to cool. Shred bacon into bits. Cut swiss cheese into tiny cubes. In a large mixing bowl whisk eggs, milk and hot sauce. Mix cooled veggies and bacon into eggs. Pour mixture into cooled pie shell and cook at 350 foe 25 minutes or until eggs in center are set.

Cashew Chili

I am going to be in a chili cook-off this weekend at work.  I entered last year and my cashew chili was a hit... with everyone who got to try it.  When I got there all the heating elements were in use, so I missed out on an hour of votes.  Grrrrr...

 This year I am bringing my own crock pot (well I am borrowing my mother-in-law's because I broke my crock pot, which is another very interesting, yet silly story).  I've adjusted the recipe a bit, and I am aiming for gold!!

I came up with the idea of cashew chili back when I was on a vegetarian diet.  My man, Mitch, who is also my trusting guinea pig loves cashews.  It was winter, I wanted chili without meat, and I found a few recipes online for cashew chili.  Of course I have to adjust anything I make, and wham, bam, next thing you know I have the best damned vegan chili I've ever tasted.

The original recipe had no jalapeno or serrano peppers and used raw cashews.  I've found that adjusting the spice levels, adding the peppers and going with roasted unsalted cashews is the way to go.  At a quick glance, this might seem to have a ton of ingredients, but most are spices and other items I have in my pantry.  Make sure that you get all the membranes and seeds out of the peppers before you add them in or you will have one hell of a kick in your mouth.  If you live in the Dallas area don't forget to come to Whole Foods Lakewood this Saturday from 1-3pm to try my chili in person!!

** According to one of the local beer gods that I work with, Joe, this pairs well with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

½ cup red pepper

2 cups white or yellow onion

1cup green pepper

2 jalapeno peppers

1 serrano pepper

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 ½ tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. dry basil

1 tbsp. dry oregano

1 tbsp. chili powder

1tbsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. cumin powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1tbsp. + 1 pinch salt

¼ tsp. paprika

16 oz. can diced tomatoes w/ juice

16 oz. Can kidney beans in water

2 bay leaves

1 ½ cups roasted unsalted cashews

1 tbsp. hot sauce (recommended: Cholula Original)

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Chop onion and peppers and saute with olive oil in large skillet or dutch oven over medium to medium high heat for 15 min or until tender. Add garlic and spices and saute for another couple minutes. Add tomatoes & beans (with their water), cashews, bay leaves, hot sauce, vinegar and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat to simmer for up to an hour. Remove bay leaves before serving.

Hello World

For the pleasure of everyone who listens to me babble on and on about the food I cook out of my tiny ass kitchen, I have started this food blog... and there was much rejoicing.

I spent a good majority of the day, whilst cleaning, cooking, playing guitar, and mommying about, trying to come up with a blog name. Then, as I surfed the net, I came across a quote from one of my childhood heroes:

"After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps." - Miss Piggy

If you have ever gone to the trouble of dealing with an artichoke, you know this is a fairly accurate statement... however those 30 or 40 stamps worth of food are delicate and delicious and worth every bit of effort.  Though there are many instance where it is totally acceptable to sub in a can of artichokes in water or the yummy ones in seasoned oil all in the spirit of saving time.

In general I am not ashamed or lying when I say that I cook all types of food.  My heart revolves around comfort food, but I love fancy treats as well.  I've lived in several regions of the US (the midwest, the south, the southwest), and I've been introduced to almost every type of cuisine.  Since moving (or rather being moved) to Texas, I've developed a deep and passionate love of peppers, spice and Cholula.

I also try to cook within a reasonable budget, focusing recipes around a few ingredients per week so I'm utilizing every penny in my kitchen wisely.  So, let me show you a few tricks I've learned, and some tasty dishes that give you more than a few stamp licks worth of taste.